Immortals
by CodyNaomiSwire
Summary: Another rp I did with mutegirlwithagun! An AU where Chell gets fatally wounded by a turret and Wheatley must figure out how to save her. Inspired partially by the song 'Immortals' from 'Big Hero 6' and the idea of fusion from 'Steven Universe'.
1. Don't Die!

The catwalk remained stationary, but Wheatley felt as if the bottom was falling out of his world.

It had all happened so fast. Wheatley had to take a few seconds to process what was going on. One moment the two of them were just going along, him chattering away cheerfully, as they headed towards the nerve center of the turret production line. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, there was a flash of red light, the sound of, "There you are," the noise of guns firing, and finally (worst of all) the sound of his companion collapsing down hard on the metal floor, and more of the color red spreading and dripping its way away from her crumpled form.

Wheatley was sure he must have then been shouting something as he dashed back to her, something along the lines of "Nonononono, not good, not good! Don't die on me lady, _don't die!"_but his audial receptors seemed to be filled with only a sort of ringing noise. Could have been alarm bells in his system firing off, he wasn't sure, but everything around him also seemed to distort into the cloud of fear that now raged around him.

It also became a cloud of all out _anger._

Wheatley had seen test subjects get hurt from turrets before. Even killed. Back then he could never do anything for those poor humans, which also gave him a sense of guilt. Even though he himself didn't fire any of the shots that marked their end, he was still a part of the Place that did, and so in a way it made a part of him feel like he shared in that guilt. The sight of it back then had made him feel sick and scared and want to motor on in any direction as long as it was away from where it happened. But this was the first time that it ever made him feel something like this, and made him dash back instead of away.

Being a fellow Aperture device the turret made no effort to shoot at Wheatley, but Wheatley had absolutely no qualms with grabbing the little arsenal of terror and flinging it as hard as he could over the edge of the catwalk. As it spun away down into the darkness, he could hear it say, _"__I don't blame you."_

On any other occasion Wheatley would have tried to make a clever and/or comedic retort to that, but with the turret gone, his attention was now fully on Chell, and her alone.

…And she was dying.

Wheatley was by no means a medical robot, and had only basic knowledge of human anatomy and bodily functions, but he did know that humans were not supposed to lose too much of their red stuff, and that the shock and pain from such an injury could also be extremely bad. He had to do _something!_

Being as careful as he could, he gently tried to move Chell into a better position to examine her, trying his best to sound comforting and not let the look of utter pain on her face make himself break down into a panic.

"It's- it's going to be ok luv!" he said, bringing one hand behind her neck and head, and trying to gently shift the rest of her body with the other. "Wh-Wheatley's here, Wheatley's got you. I- I know it hurts. It hurts real bad, I can see that. But- but I…Here, just- just let me have a look. Alright? Just focus on me. I've got you. That's it luv, it's- it's going to be ok. Y-you're going to be alright, I promise."

_**I promise.**_

Wheatley had promised her a lot since they had started their adventure together. And out of all the promises he made, he desperately hoped that if nothing else, this may be the one he would be able to keep - that for once in his artificial existence, the Moron would be able to figure out what to do.

***********************

Chell gasped when she saw the red light train on her and the voice…She'd tried to dart out of the way, launch herself over the catwalk to safely land on another, but it was too late.

The turret emptied quite a few bullets into her, each other somehow hurting worse than the last. That was when she collapsed, gasping and hurting. She knew she was bleeding out and had closed her eyes, her face contorted in slow agony.

But then, she heard his voice, screaming to her. Wheatley sounded so far away, so lost, and she couldn't just get up and assure him she was fine, that she would be fine and they wouldn't lose one another.

Chell had accepted her fate, opening her eyes only when the AI started touching and shifting her about, each move bringing fourth a whimper of pain and on several occasions, a new gush of that oh so important red liquid inside of her.

****************

Wheatley realized with a sick lurch that he was doing more harm than good to her at this point. _"__You MORON!"_ he thought to himself angrily. If she was going to come through this, he was going to need help. He couldn't do this alone. Heck, he couldn't do anything at all!

But where was he going to find help all the way in this part of the facility? As far as he knew, any of the medical bays were at least a mile away from where they were, and he wasn't sure of GLaDOS bothered to fix them with the rest of the facility since she saw no need to take care of humans. And even if they were functioning, he didn't think he could carry Chell there in time, or at least carry her that far without causing even more damage to her. He gently set her down again, setting her head in his lap, stroking one hand through her hair in what he thought would be a comforting manner, and pressing some of the folds of her jumpsuit into her wounds with the other, and setting her in such a way that gravity would keep a good portion of the blood from flowing out of her so quickly.

What was he going to do? There was no one nearby!

_*brain wave*_ Unless…

Wheatley quickly tuned his internal radio to the proper frequency, and hoped that his message would be received in turn.

…And that Jerry wasn't still sore about what happened in the elevator shaft.

"Jerry! Come in Jerry! Wheatley here! I need your help! Pronto!"

*******************

There was the shrill buzz of a none too happy nanobot, the primarily construction based creation wondering just what Wheatley could possibly want after getting himself fired on the work site. They were close from the strength of the single our little Jerry was sending off, most likely working on a shaft close to the catwalk with little care to what was going on mere meters from them.

Chell wasn't their issue.

Nor was her ever ebbing life.

That was on Wheatley. He had to care for the girl until something deemed his struggle and her life worthy of their help.

*******************

Wheatley should have seen this coming. Of course Jerry wouldn't want him and his crew to go out of their way to help a human! Wheatley tried conveying to Jerry how important she was, and how vital she was to the facility - and to himself - and that if they didn't help her now they would have a dead body they would have to dispose of later, so they might as well do something about it now and save a life while they were at it! But Jerry just responded by saying that just cleaning up a dead body would be much easier than having to first stitch it back up without the actual guarantee of saving it, so Wheatley could just stop bothering him and let him get back to work. _Selfish little - !_

Letting off a few choice words, Wheatley then turned his attention back to Chell. She was very pale now - more pale than usual - and her breathing was becoming more and more shallow. His artificial diaphragm did the opposite as he took frantic simulated breathes. He had never felt so helpless before.

And for the briefest of seconds, Wheatley wished that he had been equipped with the ability to shed tears.

"It's- it's ok luv," Wheatley said, knowing that it was far from the truth, but not knowing what else to say. And if these were her last moments, he wanted them to be as good of ones as possible, that let her know that someone still cared for her, and that she would be deeply and sorely and bitterly and _truly_ missed.

"I'm right here, right here with you. Wheatley's here."

Wheatley tenderly and gently cupped her face in his hands, and pressed his forehead up against her own, his eyes closing tight with grief and desperation, wishing with all his might that there was something he could do to save her. Anything!

"P-please, hang on luv! You can't leave me here alone! _I don't want you to go!"_

Wheatley now really understood what some of the humans had talked about before when they had a good friend who was either sick or dying - that wishing that you could pour a bit of your own strength into the other. It didn't seem like any of the other humans had actually been successful in this endeavor, and he had no idea how they would do something like that anyway, but now Wheatley found himself wishing the same thing, and hardly thinking about why he was doing it or whether or not it would work, or even exactly what he was doing, he began to go into this kind of zone where all he thought about was somehow saving Chell through whatever resources he had.

_[wireless subject emergency personality core consciousness translation and storage program initiated]_

_[commencing subject brain scan]_

_[…]_

_[brain scan complete. commencing emergency personality core consciousness translation and storage upload in 3, 2, 1]_

Suddenly, Wheatley's entire form stiffened up, and it felt as if a massive amount of information was suddenly being downloaded into his files. By now he was of course completely terrified, but he couldn't do anything to stop whatever had begun to happen. He couldn't even scream or run away or anything.

After several minutes, Wheatley found that he had collapsed on the floor, and was now coming to after his system had restarted itself.

_[emergency personality core consciousness translation and storage upload complete]_

_"__Wha…what happened?"_ he thought in confusion, as he slowly pushed himself back up, his mind with all its files feeling as if it had suddenly had a whole 1/16 of the mainframe's information suddenly dumped into it. It throbbed and made him feel dizzy. As his vision came fully back online, he could see Chell's body lying there before him, unmoving.

She didn't even show any signs of breathing.

Wheatley took a moment to take in the sight, and then gave a cry of complete and utter grief and dismay, that echoed off the walls of the facility around him.

He had failed. The Moron had failed…_again._

After what felt like ages, Wheatley finally pulled himself together enough to reach out to pick up Chell's body (he couldn't just leave her here!), but then his harms quickly snatched themselves back, and a feeling of revulsion and horror flashed across his consciousness, as if he were seeing the equivalent of his own dead corpse laid out in front of him.

_But it wasn't him._

_…Then…wait, WHAT?_

"Who- who's there?" Wheatley asked in alarm to the deep and mysterious new presence of information that had been downloaded into his mind. While he didn't know who it was, he did recognize now that whole new personality had somehow been downloaded into his system! "Wh-what's going on? Who are you?"


	2. Promises to Keep

"Wheat—ley?"

She spoke out, both in his mind and vocally, borrowing his voice to test it out. She was in him. Inside of his MIND.

"What's…WHAT GOING ON?! Why am I on the floor?! Put me BACK."

She was obvoisly freaking out, over-riding the others systems to ferverously feel herself…? Him? Their shared body, trying to make sense of just when she was nothing but a memory in his head. An extra personality stored within him. An extra life.

Her second chance. With him. Because of HIM.

"You you brilliant idiot! You…oh you are…thank you, so much! But uhm…yeah…I am sort of stuck in here now aren't I… but this is amazing. I can see so much more now. You are so much more now."

************************

Needless to say, Wheatley was extremely overwhelmed.

His emotions were now working to a complete 180 from what they had been only a few seconds ago. He was freaking out probably as much as Chell was - as he had no idea how it was possible that the consciousness of an organic life form could be transferred into a computer, and he had no idea how he pulled off such a thing - but more than that, he felt ineffable relief.

He knew Chell was saying something to him - through both his mind and his own audio processor - and on any other day it would have alarmed him terribly to have another personality override his system as easily as she did. Although honestly he was far to shocked to put up much resistance at this point, and he was also stuck on that first word that he had ever 'heard' her say.

_"__Wheat-ley."_

She had said it haltingly, but even just hearing her response, his name, in her voice (as his audio processor did indeed seem to switch modes to accommodate what her voice would sound like), and knowing it was her, and coming to the sudden realization that he had actually done something - had actually saved her - well, it was so much to take in, and so wonderful he didn't feel like he could contain it.

When it also registered that she had been thanking him for being the 'brilliant idiot' that he was, and how she saw him as 'so much more now', and hearing her own relief and wonderment in her voice…well, it all just 'broke' his heart (core?), but definitely not from sadness.

Taking back control over his android form, Wheatley collapsed back down on his knees, hugged himself (her?) tight, and finally managed to say in both his mind and voice, "Oh my God luv…You…you're here too! With me! I- "

He then burst out into something between crying and laughing, almost sure that his files would go on overload from all that was going on inside him. But he didn't care, as long as Chell was ok.

"You- you have no idea how-how scared I was! I thought I- I had lost you! I have no idea what I did luv but…Oh Chell, I can't even tell you! I'm just so happy you're ok!"

He then remembered her body lying forlornly only a few inches away from him (them?).

_"__Well…mostly, anyway…"_ he thought to himself (to her too? Man, this was confusing, but for the moment, he didn't care).

******************

"I'm dead, aren't I? Didn't really make it huh…but I also…not dead. And we're together and I can TALK!"

It was her turn to hug them? Well, they both got the idea really. And she was laughing, the happy sound carrying through the artificial synapses in their body at lightning speed.

She was comfortable like this, safely stored away in some part of Wheatley's programming. But she did hope they could find one of the personality construct shells to upload her too. She loved Wheatley to death but being this close to him was a bit off putting.

Though she always knew just what he was thinking, so that was a plus.  
And just the pure fact that he'd done something most trained scientists couldn't do on a simple whim and wish was absolutely astounding to her.

*******************

Wheatley could sense Chell's happiness, but also her feelings of awkwardness about the situation, and agreed that while it was a wonder that he transferred her personality into his android avatar, they couldn't stay like this forever. It also wasn't easy on his system to have to support two personalities when it had really only been meant to hold one.

_[WARNING:]_

Speaking of which…

_[personality translation and storage system overload imminent in 5hrs. 46min. and 23 sec._

_please transfer one or both personalities to another Aperture Science personality construct or constructs to avoid self-destruct sequence]_

"Oh, of course it wouldn't be that easy," Wheatley said in slight frustration. They still had time though, so that was a good thing. Not a lot, but it may be enough. Best to get a move on then.

Surprisingly in sync with each other, Wheatley (or would it be Chell now? …Hm, WheatleyxChell? Oh wait, maybe Chelley? Sure, that'll do for now.) _Chelley_ reached down to pick up the portal gun that now lay beside Chell's old body, the Chell part more than ready to use it, and the Wheatley part letting her have control over whatever parts of their avatar were needed in wielding the device.

The rest of the Wheatley part though couldn't help but pause for a moment. He really didn't just want to leave Chell's body just lying there. Sure Chell's consciousness was safely stored away in him - well, safe for the next five hours anyway - but he still identified at least a part of her as being that body, and it made him feel a bit sick to think that it was now lying there cold and empty, waiting for Jerry ( #$% Jerry!) and his crew to come and just break her down and take her away bit by bit. Seemed more than disrespectful to her.  
He didn't know what Chell wanted to have done with it now that she was outside of it. Was it still possible for them to patch it back up and put her back into it? He wasn't sure if that was possible even for Aperture, but he did recall GLaDOS saying something about reanimating the dead. She could have been lying, but there is a chance that she hadn't been. Should they try? Did GLaDOS have some sort of machine or program that could do that somewhere here in the facility? But then, the program did say to download her into an Aperture Science personality construct. Maybe only an artificial construct would be able to support her personality now.

But wait, why was he asking himself these questions? It was her body after all. She should get to decide.

"I- I know this is rather macabre Chell, but…uh, what-what do you think?" He knew she knew all of the thoughts that had just now flashed through his mind, so he didn't need to repeat them.

******************

"Would you be against just nudging me over the catwalk? I mean…that's just a shell now. Unless we need it for something, which I doubt will be the case." She gently tapped their leg with the portal device, using it as a way to keep herself calm and aware.

"We only have five hours to go and hunt down a new body for me, cause you can't patch up a broken one."

She sighed in his thoughts, knowing things would be simpler for both of them once they got Chell out of his personality storage and into her own persona. But that might have been a good thing. She'd be aperture made after that and well, she'd be able to connect and interact with the mainframe of the place ot better help Wheatley and herself escape. And maybe now, she wouldn't age. They'd both be stuck in this seemingly paused life forever, unless something crucial broke within either one of them with no hope of repair.

A forever with her brilliant moron, even after her death.

*******************

The thought of spending an indefinite amount of years with Chell made Wheatley's core glow warm, and the fondness with which Chell conjured the thought only added to the warmth. Wheatley felt an extreme determination begin to blaze inside of him. They would find Chell a new body, save her life, and then nothing would be able to stop them! They would escape to the surface together, and then together - always together - they would face whatever the wider world had in store for them.

But…

Even though it was Chell inside of him now, Wheatley still didn't feel comfortable with dumping her body unceremoniously over the side of the catwalk. It may be an empty shell now, but it had carried Chell in it for quite some time, and was an important part of who she was, and something he had cried and fretted over and tried desperately to save only moments ago. While Wheatley didn't want to dwell on the situation any more than necessary - especially since they didn't have a whole lot of time to do so, and he knew that although she was thinking practically he could also feel that the situation disturbed Chell as well, and that Aperture was rather short on places for the proper…well…disposal of something like this - he did feel that it warranted something more fitting than just being tossed away like that.

Wheatley then remembered that the turret redemption line was only in the next room. _"__I…I guess that'll do,"_ he thought grimly.

With a shudder, but also with great care, Wheatley took Chell's old blood stained body in his arms and placed it gently on the redemption line conveyer belt leading to the incinerator. Honestly, it was the worst thing he ever had to do. He could feel Chell's presence brushing against his consciousness comfortingly, reassuring him that that wasn't her anymore, and that she was still with him, but he couldn't help but feel a sense of squeamishness all the same, and an uneasy feeling as one of the turrets passing by said, _"__I'm different."_

_**Different.**_ Things would be different now, there was no doubt about that. But he found himself desperately hoping that…well, things wouldn't be _too_ different.

"Chell?" he began as the two of them made their way away from the redemption line, not wanting to stay longer than they had to, and with the portal gun dangling at their side. "C-can you promise me something?"

****************

She had been watching her body get carried away before Wheatley started moving them, a slightly content hum reverberating through their shared mind. She was almost…happy to see her old self get carted away. Sort of a funeral for herself.

Then she heard him speak and shuddered a little. He sounded nervous over things getting too different between them. And even though she could hear everything the other was thinking, she figured it would be more comforting to let him ask his question.

"Hmm? Yeah." She warmed them up a little again, showing Wheatley that whatever he wanted from her was fine. "What is it?"

****************

"Just…" he began timidly, knowing that Chell could read his thoughts even before they came out (man alive, she was amazing!), but still like before, he just felt better when being able to speak his thoughts out loud, and she seemed ok with him doing so. Plus for some reason, he was having a hard time reading her thoughts in return and didn't know exactly how she would respond. It may have been partially because he was hesitant to delve into her thoughts because of privacy reasons, and he was honestly a little afraid of her (who knows what was going on in that mind he knew moved a million miles an hour, it would probably be more stuff than he could fathom). Not that he actually thought she would hurt him - she had been far too kind and comforting towards him lately for him to think that - but he respected her far too much to just plunge into her business without her permission.

"Well, tenacity is something that they've noted in your files you know. (Ok, so maybe there was some of your information I barged into without your permission, but that was different. Wasn't like it was top secret. Well, actually it was top secret now that I think about it. Anyway…) You never give up on anything. Just promise me that, no matter how things may change now, never give up on…on who you used to be? I mean, y-you won't be exactly human anymore, I understand that, but please don't ever give up on keeping your former inner human-ness - you're humanity. Can you do that for me? That-that was one of the things I loved most about you, you know."

Here their avatar's face blushed in sync a little.

"And…and don't give up on your good ol' pal Wheatley? I mean I- I know you're fond of me…Man alive, and I can see and feel that now. More than I ever hoped you would. But, if we're both going to be immortals now, you…well, I'm- I'm worried you might get tired of me after so many years. Heh, sometimes I get tired of myself. And most everyone else I've met has, and since then has done all they can to avoid me. Not- not that I think you would be so heartless as to abandon me - or I guess it will be 'coreless' soon now, you wouldn't be so coreless - but…Oh, I dunno. Just- just promise me you…you won't leave me?"

***************

_"__Oh Wheatley…"_

Suddenly, she flooded him with every thought she'd had involving him. Every little scenario or wish. Everything she'd felt and wished for when they had taken their break not that long ago it seemed.

She was showing him how, within their small window of time knowing each other in a semi-silent mishmash of tests, he'd been so important to her and that she wouldn't leave him, even. Snuff out her core first, disconnect a few important wires if needed.

And she'd stay human. She was human and being stuck inside an Aperture made shell wouldn't stop her. Maybe she'd look a little better even. Smoother.

Less smelly.

Her last thought came with a laugh of joy. Yes, she'd remembered him accidentally insulting her then stumbling to fix it.

******************

Wheatley laughed too (but also making it clear through his thoughts that even if she were to be a bit smelly, it wouldn't change at all how he felt about her). He was again feeling overwhelmed and a bit frightened by just how much she cared for him, but his feelings of joy and happiness were far outweighing them.

He finally embraced her thoughts with his own, and shared his own in return, letting her know that he wanted nothing more than for all of what she wanted to come true too, and all of the things he thought and felt about her during the growth of their relationship, and how much she meant to him.

_Nothing would be able to come between them now!_

But before either one of them could sink too far into that Chelley feeling, the emergency protocols in their (his? her?) system did thrust itself between them, very forcefully, shocking them both back into their respective identities, their avatar stumbling back and gripping the side of the catwalk to avoid falling over, and a dull throbbing pain entering their (his? her?) core and circuits. The coolant system had also kicked into high gear, as their joy had been almost too much burning warmth for their avatar to contain.

That was probably another reason why they only had so much time to get one or both of them out of a single avatar - they were at risk of losing themselves in each other, becoming a new personality all together. Wheatley didn't think that that sounded like such a bad thing actually (it had felt amazing!), until he realized that the system wouldn't be able to handle that kind of fused personality (not for very long anyway), that it also presented the risk of Chell losing her individuality (which is exactly what he didn't want her lose), and that it really would go on overload and self-destruct if that were to happen. Or it would make it more difficult for the system to identify the individual personalities (talk about having an identity crisis!), and it would be harder for Chell to make the transition into her own avatar once they did find something that could hold her personality. Wheatley didn't want that to happen. Things had been hard enough for her already.

_[WARNING: self-destruct sequence imminent in 5hrs. 36 min. and 45 sec.]_

There was also no more time to lose. Time to get a move on!

Wheatley shook himself back to reality, and in sync with Chell, they (…_Chelley_…) pulled themselves back up, and grasped the portal device again.

"You ready then Luv?" the Wheatley part asked with a determined smile.


	3. Identity Crisis

_"__Let's find me a new body."_ There was a grin in her voice and there legs started moving. Speed was key in this place and well, now that they were both in the same device, Chell could finish any sort of testing cambers they had to go through without any issues.

Though…here's the thing, she didn't know where they were going.

"Uhm, quick question, any idea where we would find me one of these things?" She made them poke themselves as they went, watching for any portalable surfaces to help them along a little quicker.

**********************

"I do actually," Wheatley said confidently as they shot their first set of portals across a gap in the catwalk, and gliding gracefully through it (which doing anything gracefully was rather new to Wheatley) - Chell leading with her skill and coordination, and Wheatley giving direction with his thoughts, the two perfectly in sync with each other. "Turns out the core and android production line is near the turret production line, where we are now. I can't guarantee that She didn't move stuff around a bit since reawakening the facility, so we may have to do some guesswork, but if I remember the schematics correctly it would be incredibly difficult even for Her to move them too far form their original position. Without having to rip apart other major structures first that is. One of which being the neurotoxin center, and I know for a fact she did not tear that down (ha ha, leaving that job to us then I suppose, eh?), so I think it shouldn't be too difficult to get there. We're gonna need to cross here then, by the way."

They leapt through another set of portals, their android's insides doing a flip from the sudden shift in gravity and momentum, but righting themselves in time for landing. The platform on the other side made a clanging noise as they landed, the android's own shock absorbers bearing the brunt of the force. "Mmph! So, yeah, I think we should get there without much of a hitch. Especially since we've got a portal gun, and now that we're both in an Aperture device, those bloody turrets won't be aiming to shoot at us anytime-"

_"__Target acquired."_

"Wait, what-"

The Chelley android managed to quickly stop and duck back behind a corner (mostly due to Chell's lightning fast reflexes) just in time before the turret's shots rang out, and a new set of bullet holes made their home in the wall where they had been standing only milliseconds before. The Chelley android leaned its back against the wall, well away from the turret's watchful gaze, and slowly slid down into a sitting position, the two personalities within it trying to calm themselves after that second surprise attack today.

Wheatley had never actually been shot at by a turret before. Now that he had, it was absolutely terrifying! His thoughts also flashed back to Chell's old body becoming bloody and full of holes (and pretty much dead - had it not been for his own intervention she really would have completely died), and the thought of it happening all over again to the two of them was a living nightmare. There would be no blood this time, but maybe sparks or even a small explosion or two, depending on what got hit. The idea of having a bullet pass through his core made Wheatley shudder, and placed a hand over it protectively.

_"__But, this doesn't make any sense. We are an Aperture device now! Why in the world would the turrets- ?"_

_Oh._ That's right. _Wheatley_ was an Aperture device, but _Chell_ wasn't. Not _officially_ anyway. Not yet. He didn't know what kind of tracking abilities the turrets had, but apparently it was more sophisticated than he thought. Chell - however they were able to perceive her on their radar - still registered as being a test subject; _a target_. Man, she couldn't be safe even from _them_ just yet!? Not until they found another android shell to put her in and register her into the database. He gently approached Chell's consciousness with his own, trying the best he could to express thoughts and a feeling approximate to a protective hug.

"I'm…I'm sorry Luv. We're, we're ok. I won't let them get you this time, I promise. (Again.) Y-you'll be ok. We'll be ok."

Taking a few (simulated) gulps and deep breathes, he tried hard to steady himself, gripping Chell's consciousness with his own in as comforting a way as possible, trying to reassure her while also seeking reassurance for himself that they were indeed ok. Chell had dealt with these things before, so if anything she would be the one who knew the best way to deal with them and get passed them.

He would have to trust _her_ now.

"Ok…We're ok…But I think things just got a bit more complicated."

*******************

Chell seemed to be shaking from the turret attack, her own consciousness wavering slightly against Wheatley's. For once, those white bullet filled things had her afraid. Mainly because they had more or less just killed her.

_"__Well, yeah, I'd say we just found ourselves in a bit of a jam…did they have anything white under them? Or no? Something I can shoot a portal onto near the turret? I can knock it out of place if it doesn't see us." _

It might give Wheatley a bit of a headache, but Chell's 'mind' was racing with solutions and paths they could take. Always wondering and playing things out in the new space she had, using the processors to her advantage. Of course they weren't the fastest or most expanded in the Aperture line of androids, but they were his, so it was better in the long run for her.

Then, she saw it, a small square of white just above the sentry. They'd have to jump onto the thing that wanted Chell dead and well, kicking it off the catwalk seemed like a fun thing to do.

After a quick placement of portals, They (the glorious Chelley ), lead by the test subject, launched through the portal and knocked the turret off out of the way, punting it over the railing with a grin.

_"__I don't hate you."_ It's voice called as it plummeted into the abyss.

*****************

"Ah, brilliant!" Wheatley cheered as they continued on their way. "Have to admit, was pretty scared there for a while. Have a bit of a headache too, but man alive, you're a brilliant thinker. You are amazing, seriously! Well done, Luv! Now, let's do this!"

For the next couple hours their journey was pretty much repetitious from that point on. Pop a few portals, take out a turret (or turrets) whenever they had to, etc. And only once did Wheatley get themselves lost. Turns out GLaDOS had moved things around a little bit. The delay cost them about 10 minutes, which Wheatley was kicking himself for, but in the end they both agreed that it could have been a lot worse.

Finally, they came to a door that had a sign above it that said, _'__Aperture Science Personality Construct Production Line'._ And right beside the door was another one that said, _'__Authorized Personnel Only! Please Enter with Caution!'_

"Hmm…" Wheatley looked at the keycard device on the door pensively. "Not sure I qualify as an authorized personnel for this particular area. Will give it a try though."

Placing one of his hands firmly on the keycard device, Wheatley connected with the device and gave his ID information, but only the words _[Access Denied]_ flashed across the small screen.

"Argh!" Wheatley growled in frustration, as his own warning systems also came across his consciousness.

_[WARNING: Self-Destruct imminent in 2hrs. 48 min. and 33 sec.]_

Wheatley didn't know how long it would take to get Chell uploaded into a new android, but he had a feeling it was going to take quite a while, and he could feel that his own system had really strained itself by this point to keep them both supported.

They had to get in there _ASAP._

"Alright, let's see," Wheatley said, looking hard at the keycard device and at the programming running through his mind. "I can try to hack this. Not a problem. Just wait." Wheatley then cleared his throat. "Alright mate, listen up!" he said to the device, trying to ignore what he perceived to be the equivalent of a face palm coming from Chell's files. "In case you hadn't noticed, the two of us here in an a rather, well, awkward situation. Really quite awkward. Also a bit of an emergency, for the both of us. So, in short, we rather depend on us getting through here if you don't mind, so we can sort out things and get Chell here into her body and all that. So, if you could just let us through, that would be greatly appreciated. Will put in a good word for you with the higher ups, don't worry. Am sure they'll understand how desperate the situation was. Will probably even promote you to a better door to look after. If you could just let us through? Say…now?"

…Nothing happened.

"Yeah, ok, this isn't working. He's not letting us through." Wheatley admitted, slightly embarrassed, leaning one side tiredly against the glass window of the door. _"__You got any ideas?"_he asked Chell with his thoughts.

********************

_"__Break a window or something."_ Her voice was soft, the strain of Wheatley's system not doing much good for her seeing as she was the invading personality. Chell was tired, and knew there was something in there for her, something to rest in for a bit.

The exchange would take a while, maybe a few seconds for the initial upload, but then the process of creating an appropriate shell for her avatar while checking all the endoskeletons wires and connections.  
_"__I'm tired for once…sleepy…" _

That might actually not be a very good thing.

*********************

"Whoa, whoa, stay with me Luv! Stay with me!" Wheatley said urgently, doing his best to redirect some of his avatar's remaining energy to Chell's files. As Wheatley felt the dip in energy on his end, he became rather dizzy, and staggered a bit as he prepared to take Chell's advice and punch through the glass of the door, trying his best to aim it properly with Chell's help.  
Being Aperture built, it originally would have taken Wheatley only one good punch at the window to shatter it, but now it was after four slightly painful hits that the glass finally gave way. "There…" he said, sounding somehow out of breath (though he really had no reason to since he didn't actually breathe), and his knuckles throbbing from the impact. (He really did not know why the scientists who built him thought it worth their while to make him able to feel pain.) "Done…hacked…"

Shooting a portal through the broken window, the Chelley android finally made it to the personality construct line. Both of their minds were getting quite fuzzy by this point, and their vision blurred and flickered. Wheatley reached out and turned on the lights and the ventilation system, collapsing on a stool located near one of the ventilation ducts, relishing the feeling of the cool breeze that now tussled his synthetic strawberry blonde hair, and stroked across his (_their?_) face.

"Ok…" he said tiredly, his mind regaining some clarity. "I…I think the rest of this…shouldn't be too difficult…" He proceeded to scan the room around them, noting the details and trying to sort out what everything did and how to proceed with what to do next.

Along the far wall of the chamber there appeared to be a line of large cylindrical tanks, each filled with some sort of goo that slightly glowed and bubbled, with various cords and tubes trailing in and out of them. Wheatley didn't even want to know what those were for. Moving on, he saw in the middle of the room there were what appeared to be a series of examination tables, with monitors and more tubes and cords connected to each one. Some of them looked like they had given up the ghost a long time ago, along with most everything else in the facility, but a few looked like they may still function.

"That looks like a good place to start…."

With shaky steps, Wheat- _[*ccrrzzt* …Wh-whhheeat….ley…Ch-Chel...Chelley]_ made their way over to the closest working examination table. With fumbling hands, they managed after a couple of tries to finally connect one of the wires into the hidden port on the back of their neck. It was at first a bit of a jolt to suddenly feel the flow of energy as the system connected with theirs, but it was also a big relief.

_[Hello, and welcome to the Aperture Science Personality Core and Construct initiative program. Please verify your ID before continuing.]  
Hoping desperately that it would work this time, Chelley sent their ID code into the program._

_[…..]_

_[Identification Code Not Found. Please Try Again.]_

_Wait, what?_

_Oh! Oh no!_

Wheatley and Chell found themselves struggling to return back to their respective identities. The amount of time being in the same avatar had been far too long, and especially now that their energies had been running low, and their minds clouded, they were beginning to merge into a whole new personality. The emergency and warning protocols in their system began firing off again, and the feeling of trying to separate their programming felt not too unlike having whole limbs torn off.

They _had_ to be separated though, and _fast!_

With one last great exertion of his energy, Wheatley pulled his personality apart from Chell's, really hoping that somehow it didn't hurt her as much as it did him, and just managed to send his own ID code into the machine, as he felt his side of the files begin to fall into a darkness.

_"__I…I think that should do it Luv…"_ he managed to send through his thoughts as he phased in and out of clarity. _"__Just…follow the instructions…you'll…you'll have a new body soon now…"_ Then a small, hollow laugh. _"__I think mine's about had it now, huh?…But…you'll be ok…just don't…give…up…Ok? Y-you promised…Chell…Luv…And I…I…"_

_[Identification Code Accepted.]_

And then, Wheatley went offline.

************************

"Wheatley!" She screamed for him, suddenly very very alone in the body that wasn't made for her, the circuits of the thing sparking from the sudden rush of emotion she felt then the utter emptiness.

Then…things went black for her for a few hours.

She felt it all but couldn't cry out, felt her consciousness getting ripped apart and put back together in something new, a little ways away in the room, through the wires. She felt heavy as she settled into the new casing, everything still shut of to her.

But she thought the whole time, hopped that Wheatley wasn't gone. That he had just been turned off so she didn't steal bits of him while getting transferred.

Then a voice started talking in her head, asking her questions.

_'__What's your name?' 'Chell'_

_'Who were you before the personality transfer?' 'A test subject'_

_'Booting up, restore memory banks?' 'Do I get to keep all the human bits?'_

_'Yes, select answer Y/N?' 'Yes.'_

_'Thank you, please wait as you're fully assimilated with the Aperture Science Personality Mainframe.' _

Things went quiet for a while again but she felt a bit lighter…she was safe now, all thanks to him.


	4. To Shed Tears

_"__Wheatley!"_

The voice screamed through his memory as things began to come back online. It was dark, and Wheatley could barely feel anything outside of what one 'feels' from their memories. And who was that who had been calling to him? Oh wait…it was…something was coming to him…c'mon, get back online already memory!….It was…It was…

_**CHELL!**_

Recognition and urgency both hit Wheatley like a thunderclap, and he tried hard to get is optics to open, and to get up and…well, do something! But aside from a twitch and a groan he couldn't move at all, could barely feel anything through his sense of touch, but his mind becoming more and more clear as fresh energy began moving through him steadily. _"__Chell!"_ he managed to project though his thoughts, almost expecting her to reply, but nothing came. It terrified Wheatley and left him feeling very bereft at the loss of contact with her, but he tried to calm himself. As it was, there was nothing else he could do right now.  
He could do nothing, except wait.

But that was proving extremely difficult for him at this point. Chell had been calling for him hadn't she? And she had sounded so scared, so hurt, so desperate, and so alone! But why? What had happened? Images of her dead body, of the transfer of her personality into himself, and of them racing through to the personality construct line finally fell into place in his memory. They had made it, didn't they? Yes! _Barely_, but, yes, they did! And then…well, he really didn't remember a whole lot after that, except for her shouting to him, and pain. A lot of pain. It didn't surprise him that it would have hurt so badly to not only have to forcefully separate your merging programming from someone else's, but especially if it was separating yourself from someone whom you cared deeply about. He wasn't in the first kind of pain anymore thankfully, just a dull ache in his head as his senses came back online, but the second kind throbbed harshly in his core.

She had to be nearby somewhere! He had to find her!

Finally, an announcer's voice spoke in his mind. _[Personality Storage and Translation Transfer Complete for…'Chell']_

Wheatley gave a small whimper of emotion as he heard this. Just hearing that she had made it out was such a huge relief. He still longed to see her though. Badly. Her persona may have made it into a new shell, but was she still intact? He dreaded to think that the transfer had gone badly and that she had lost a part of herself during it - had lost her humanity.

_"__Of course she'll be alright,"_ he thought to himself. _"__She promised she wouldn't give up on that. And she always comes through!"_

_['Wheatley' Personality Construct Repairs and Upgrades Complete._

_'Wheatley' Personality Core Re-activiation Complete in 3…2…1]_

Wheatley took a (simulated) deep breath, and was finally able to open his eyes. His movements were still slow as he came out of the sort of sleep-mode he had been put in, but as his optical channels focused on the ceiling above him, he now came face to face with his own reflection. He hadn't noticed it before, but apparently there were mirrors bolted to the ceiling of the chamber, and he could see his avatar sprawled out in anatomical position on the examination table. On the outside he didn't really look all that different from how he had before. His android jumpsuit was now fresh and clean, the bloodstains from before no longer there, some dents and scuff marks had tears had been removed from his synthetic skin and outer casing, and it felt like the glasses he wore were now new (though he never actually needed them for seeing, they were always just for decoration he supposed), but other than that he didn't feel like there were any significant changes to his system.

Then he caught sight of another familiar reflection in the mirror over the table next to his.

As his head whipped to the side, his core gave a great leap as he now saw her - saw Chell, _his_Chell - laying peacefully on the exam table beside him. It worried him a little bit that she hadn't come to yet, but the monitors made no indication that anything was wrong. Just taking a while for her system to reactivate as well.

On the outside, she looked very much like how she had before all this had happened. (Man alive, the personality construct system made a real world-class job of designing her avatar for her!) She had the same dark brown hair - which was pulled back in its usual ponytail - and her complexion was also a nice tan color. The only big differences in her appearance were that she now wore an android jumpsuit instead of that of a test subject - though Wheatley noticed that where his jumpsuit had blue accents hers had orange - and an orange core glowed where her human heart would have been, not unlike his own.

_God, she was beautiful!_ And perhaps any minute now she would come back online and open her eyes. The thought of her bright eyes looking back into his own made Wheatley's core do summersaults. Gingerly, Wheatley managed to sit up, and as the wires connecting him to his own monitor disconnected with a few clicks, he made his way over to her table.

As he knelt down beside her, he clasped one of her hands with his own, and with the other gently ran his fingers through her hair. "We-we made it Luv," he said, his voice cracking, not sure if she could hear him yet or not, but he didn't care. "Y-you're…you're going to be ok now. Just-just gotta wait for you to open your eyes now. You can do it, I know you can. Just…just a little bit longer now. And I'll…I'm-I'm here, too…We'll be together, and it'll be ok Luv, it'll be o- …."

It was at this point that he realized there was one new upgrade to his system that had been added - one that startled him, but one he had long wished he had and could use, and now finally did, as one of his hands quickly moved to swipe across his eyes.

He could now shed tears.

****************************

After what seemed like an hour at the least, Chell's chest took in the slightest simulated breath…then another, slightly deeper this time.

Her hands twitched in Wheatley's grasp and her core shuddered slightly, showing that she was waking up at last. Everything seemingly in place and working correctly. She could tell he was there, having heard bits of his talking to her as she faded in and out of her own mind.

Then it happened, her eyes fluttered at first then opened, staring curiously at the android in front of her then up at the mirror over herself with a little childish smile before once again fixing her gaze on Wheatley.

"You made it."

Her vocal processors couldn't get her much above a whisper at the moment, still cold and new, but she sounded so happy and still so, so human.

*********************

Wheatley was so overjoyed that he couldn't speak at the moment even if he wanted to. As her bright and glowing eyes opened and looked knowingly into his, it felt as if everything was right with the world, and always would be. With a big smile and fresh tears of joy flowing, Wheatley carefully pulled Chell up into a tight yet tender hug, and buried his face into the side of her neck.

"Oh Luv," he finally managed to say after a few moments. "I'm- I'm just…I'm so, so glad you're ok!"

_"__And you kept your promise!"_ he thought, connecting wirelessly into her consciousness like a radio on the same wavelength, non-invasively, and this time without the threat of a system implosion. _"__I knew you could do it! Chell…my Chell, just…Oh, Luv, I can't even tell you!"_ As Wheatley pulled back, holding her firmly but gently, he took a few seconds to look back into her happy face and those brilliant bright eyes of hers, and wondered if it was possible to drown in their glowing and beautiful gaze.

And then, feeling like it was the only thing he could do to show how he felt, he pressed his forehead lightly against her own, eyes closing as a feeling of peace washed over him. Then lovingly (because…yes…this was _love_, wasn't it!?) he softly pressed his lips against her own.

And perhaps somewhere, deep in his programming, he felt like he also had something like humanity, too.

***********************

_"__My Wheatley."_ She thought back to him as they kissed, soft and slow. Getting pulled up had caused some of the wires connected to her body to pop out making her giggle a bit before the obvious display of affection.

She was starting to understand just how Wheatley functioned and was a little startled when her core started heating up from the love (Yes, love ) she felt in those few moments upon waking. They were going to be together for quite some time now, safe and eternal. Neither of them potentially dying, again, from mishaps.

Once Chell broke the kiss, knowing it would be sort of strange for them to just sit there with their mouths pressed together, even though it was rather enjoyable, for too long, she looked down at the orange circle illuminated on her chest. She lightly tapped the protective glass, shuddering.

Then her eyes scanned over Wheatley, noting his..newer look. "You got shut off so they could fix you…I was so scared I had killed you.."

**********************

Wheatley's dazed but contented smile vanished as he took in Chell's haunted and nearly grieved expression. "Oh! Uh, well…" he began haltingly, trying to think of how to respond to that. "I'm- I'm sorry you got scared Luv. But, it wasn't like you could've done anything about it, right? And, if you makes you feel any better, I was scared too. Like when I jumped off my management rail, or when we tried dancing that one time, remember? I was, I was so worried I wasn't going to see you again. But, I didn't die! Haha! Nope, no definitely still alive! Not dead! System one hundred percent functional again! I'm absolutely fine. Better even!"

While Wheatley fell back into the routine of bringing about an excessive amount of optimism, underneath it all it honestly floored him to think that someone would be_that_ hurt over his possible demise. She had crushed and thrown him aside like yesterday's garbage, and even before that it seemed like the only reason why the other scientists kept him around the facility after he had failed in his original purpose was because he did represent several billion dollars worth of research and tech. So it was quite new to him, and touched him deeply, to find that if he were to ever go permanently offline - if he were to die - there was someone who would sorely and dearly and truly miss him. And not because he represented a significant amount of government dollars invested in Science, but because of…well, simply because of _who_ he was.

_"__**My**__ Wheatley,"_ she had called him. Yes. As far as he was concerned, he didn't belong to Aperture anymore. _He was Chell's._

"And…well…" he continued again, his hands nervously entangling themselves in hers, and his eyes looking downward as he tried hard to find the words to convey what he felt. "If- even if I had, you know…died…it wouldn't have been your fault. Wouldn't have blamed you for a second. And-and actually…um, this may sound just a bit crazy - heh, a bit ridiculous even - but…I would have been ok with that. Really. As long as you were ok I mean." Wheatley sighed deeply. "You see, before I've always been so terrified of it. Of dying I mean. Understandably of course. I mean, heh, who wouldn't be afraid of it, right? And for years I've done all that I can to avoid it. Which you of all people know that's not an easy thing to do here. And, admittedly, the idea still does scare me quite a bit. But now it's strange because I feel that as long as you were ok, I would be ok, no matter what happened to me. Heh, doesn't make much sense I know, but that's what I had promised I'd do for you, right? Save you I mean. And if I had to do this all over again I would because…well, because…" Here he gulped nervously, and though he was almost too scared to, he made himself look straight back into Chell's eyes and said both vocally and through his thoughts, "…I…I _love_ you Chell…I really do."

At this point, Wheatley felt more vulnerable than he ever had in his life, but at the same time, he had never felt more invincible.

***************************

Everything about her seemed to light up after his confession, her eyes and core brightening a few degrees to express her pure happiness, something she was shocked that she could feel in this body.

For a few seconds her vocal proccessors didn't work, but her mind kept saying it back, repeating an endless, melding stream of 'I love you' and 'You really love me?' as she tried to sort things out. Everything was much much simpler now that she could store away bits of information just to make room for new things.

And love, real unconditional love, was something new to her. But she trusted Wheatley with her emotions for the time being, letting herself be vulnerable in hopes that he could protect her the same way she would protect him. They were one in the same now, only they couldn't accidentally blow up their shared body or forget their own names.

***************************

Wheatley had seen Chell's face light up only a few times before now. The first time was shortly after GLaDOS had crushed him, and he had called out to her from behind some of the panels letting her know that he was still alive. The second time was when he had lead her to one of those mysterious hiding places with the crazy drawings, so she could get a few moments peace away from the testing tracks. Another time had been when he had opened the panels leading behind the chambers that initiated their escape, and then just minutes ago when she came back online and found he had also come through alive.

And now, seeing her light up again (quite literally now…and man alive, she was gorgeous!), and sensing how vulnerable she also felt, yet her happiness also so intense, and knowing that he had been the cause of it (…had_always_ been the cause of it)…well, it felt more wonderful than anything he had ever hoped for, and felt that he could without a doubt go on doing it for an eternity.

It was hard to believe that several hours ago he feared that he had failed in the worst possible way. Now he felt the closest he had ever come to a sense of triumph -_a huge success_. Not even all of Aperture's greatest inventions and discoveries combined could compare with this.

There would still be challenges ahead - _tests_ if you will. Wheatley knew that. Things were different now, and while everything felt wonderful in this moment it also meant big things would be coming. There would be no kidding themselves that things were going to be easy.

But then…whoever said that _love_ was easy?

With great care, Wheatley cupped one of Chell's cheeks in his hand, and placing another kiss on her lips, brought her into another warm embrace, their cores glowing brightly against each other between them.

Orange and blue - forever.


End file.
